Two Richards Pipits.

Shedden Clough, Lancashire, UK.

December 2004 - by Allen Holmes.

On Dec 2nd 2004, I was walking back to the car park in Shedden Clough when I saw two birds drop into rough grassland some distance away.

I was looking into the low sun and I am not sure if there was something different about the birds or whether I just  wanted to prolong my walk in the pleasant sunshine but I decided to walk across to see if they would call.

As I approached the area they both got and landed again but did not call. I was puzzled as to their identity and walked towards them again. This time one bird gave a loud, clear schreep call and I recognized it as Richard's Pipit, a species  which I am familiar with from birding trips abroad.

 But this was East Lancashire....in December!!

Fortunately one of the birds landed briefly on a stone wall and I was able to get the scope on it and saw the heavy bill and long- legged upright stance of a large Pipit.

Although by now I was confident of the identification, the fact that there were two birds was causing some confusion and doubt, so I thought I should try and see some plumage detail before ringing anybody.

The sun was now quite low and I knew that time was against me, but fortunately I got one bird in the scope and noted a large bill, dark streaking on the mantle, broad white supercillium, dark malar stripe extending down into a wedge on the side of the neck, streaking on the breast and warm buff on the flanks. The bird also called several times as I watched it on the grass.

At this point I decided to ring Bill Aspin, who I knew was familiar with the bird and call having found East Lancs first in 2003 and also John Metcalfe who I knew was also familiar with the species. I knew that it was probably too late in the day to contact local birders but I was anxious for someone to see or hear one of the birds before darkness fell to avoid the problems that would inevitably arise with a single observer record of this species in December.

I purposely omitted to tell Bill and John that there were 2 birds as I thought they might not believe me!

Barry James and Dave Allen were the first to arrive and we saw one bird fly over the road calling. When Bill Aspin arrived he had brief views of a large pipit but it did not call. There were no further sightings that day and the following day a search was abandoned due to atrocious weather conditions.

On December 4th, Peter Grice and I were searching the grasslands where the birds had frequented when PG received a call from Bob Ashworth to say that he had flushed a large pipit on the other side of the road.

As we joined Bob a bird flew up and over our heads calling loudly. The three of us then spent the next few minutes on the phone to say that one bird had been refound.

Within the hour many local birders arrived and several people saw 2 birds together. The birds stayed at the site for over a week, mainly in a large rushy field adj to Coal Clough Wind Farm, but were often elusive and prolonged views were difficult to obtain.

Thanks to the perseverance of several photographers some good images were taken and it would appear that there was possibly one first winter and one adult bird present.

The last sighting of 2 birds was possibly Dec 9th with the last sighting on Dec 19th.

Allen Holmes (Dec 2004).

Above: These images taken in murky conditions again clearly show the extent of white present in the penultimate outer tail feathers, as well as the size, stance and long-tailed appearance of the bird (Bill Aspin).

Additional details of the event.

Bill Aspin.

A week after Allen's remarkable discovery, Halifax birder Sean Gray obtained an image of one of the birds which suggested a diminutive, short tailed and small billed 'large' Pipit. This prompted some observers viewing the image on the internet to suggest Blyths Pipit as a possible ID for one of the birds. Click here to view the photo on Seans website. The image is dated as 9th December.

To the best of my knowledge, all local birders are satisfied with the ID of both as Richards Pipits.

When flushed at the same time from the same vicinity, both birds uttered what observers described as typical Richards calls at all times, with no differences in size or jizz noted during these flight views.

Due to the lack of truly crippling views of both birds on the ground, it is not possible to say whether the images accompanying the account depict just one or both birds.

Remarkably, the Cant Clough Reservoir Water Pipit was also located in the same field as the Richards on a couple of dates. A few Meadow Pipits also present meant that three species of Pipit frequented the field in East Lancs, in December - remarkable.

Finally, I was curious as to how many records of multiple Richards Pipits had been found inland previously, so I emailed Lee Evans who keeps an extensive database of UK rare bird occurrences, in the hope that he could help answer this question. Lee knew of only 12 previous records of multiple birds inland.

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Record submitted to Lancashire Records Panel.